USATC S160 Class

USATC S160 Class
File:USATC 160 5197 - 24-6-06 - Kingsley and Frogall.JPG
Type and origin Power type Steam Designer Maj. J.W. Marsh Build date 1942-1946
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 2-8-0 Gauge Standard gauge Length 61ft 0in, including tender Fuel type Coal Fuel capacity 8 tons Water cap. 5400 gallons Boiler 5ft 10in Boiler pressure 225 lbf/in² Heating surface: ​  • Firebox 136 ft²  • Tubes 1,055 ft² (150x 2in) Superheater: ​  • Heating area 313 ft² Cylinders Two Cylinder size 19 x 26 in
Career Number in class 2,120 Official name USATC S160 Class Locale United States European Union

The United States Army Transportation Corps S160 Class is a class of 2-8-0 steam locomotive designed for use in Europe during World War II for heavy freight work. A total of 2,120 were built and they worked on railroads across the world, including Austria, Great Britain, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, the USSR, Turkey and Spain.

Design

During the 1930s, the United States Army Transportation Corps approved update of a Baldwin World War One design in contingency for war transportation, to create the S159 Class. During the period of World War Two when America was neutral, the government of Franklin D. Roosevelt approved the Lend-Lease supply to the United Kingdom of the S200 Class, designed specifically to fit into the restricted British loading gauge.

With Americas entry to World War Two, the USTAC needed a developed design from which to create a volume of locomotive power for the wrecked railways of Europe, which they could use to deploy military hardware and civilian goods. Hence the design created by Maj. J.W. Marsh from the Railway Branch of the Corps of Engineers learnt from both previous locomotives, designed on austerity principles and built using methods which created efficient and fast construction speed over long life, such as axlebox grease lubricators and rolled plates preferred to castings.

With cast frames and cast wheels, the front two driving axles were sprung independently from the rear two driving axles to allow for running on poor quality track. The larger tender layout was derived from the similar to the WD Austerity 2-8-0, with the coal bunker inset above the water tank to improve visibility when running backwards.

British deployment

800 locomotives were constructed in 1942/3 in thirteen batches, split between Alco, Baldwin and Lima. Shipped to South Wales and dispatched from the GWR locomotive depot at Ebbw Vale, the first 43 locomotives were transferred to the LNER works at Doncaster for completion, and later running in over the East Coast mainline to replace damaged stock. This started a pattern where by each of the four British railway companies eventually deployed a total of 400 S160's under the guise of "running in," but factually replacing lost stock and increasing the capacity of the British railways system to allow for shipping of military pre-invasion equipment and troops. The eventual deployment of S160's were:

• 174 to the Great Western Railway
• 168 to the London and North Eastern Railway
• 50 to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
• 6 to the Southern Railway

The second batch of 400 S160's were prepared for storage by USTAC personnel at Ebbw Vale in the immediate run-up to D Day. Post the D-Day invasion of Normandy, the locomotives deployed across Britain again began to collect and be refurbished at Ebbw Vale in preparation for shipment to Europe.

Operational failures

The S160's were designed for quick and efficient building not for long term operations, but the compromises in design lead to some difficulties in operations. The axle box grease lubricators were not as efficient as they needed, particularly when maintenance procedures lapsed or were delayed for operational war reasons, and so axle boxes often ran hot. Braking was poor for European standards, with a steam brake used for the locomotive, but was woefully insufficient due to the long distance from the driver's valve and the brake cylinder.

The major fault of the S160 were the three tubes used to hold up the brick arch crown in the firebox. The bolts holding these stays were found to collapse under heat tension with low water levels and with little warning, resulting in a boiler explosion. In a space of ten months, three UK S160s suffered a collapse of the firebox crown, with the first leading to the death of a GWR fireman on No. 2403 in November 1943.

Deployment to Europe

Africa and Italy

At the same time as S160's were being deployed into Britain, when General Patton led American troops in Operation Torch in to the North African Campaign, their Transport Corps brought with them S160's. These locomotives moved across the north of the continent as Patton's troops waged war, and when the troops moved to Italy their S160's moved to Italy. These locomotives supplemented with direct importation from America, were eventually to create a group of 243 locomotives, subsumed by the Italian State Railway's to become the FS Class 736 class.

Mainland Europe

The British locomotives, together with those shipped direct from America were also similarly deployed first with troops reclaiming Europe, and then subsumed throughout European national railways as replacements for their destroyed stock after the war:

• 30 to Austria as ÖBB Class 956
• 27 to Greece as SEK Class THg
• 510 to Hungary as MÁV Class 411 (26 used for spares)
• CSD Class 456
• Polish Railways, PKP - received 75 S160s from UNRRA and numbered them Tr 201 1 - 75; and a further 500 from USATC as Tr 203 1 - 500.* 50 to Turkey as TCDD 45171 Class</ref>
• 80 to Yugoslavia JDZ Class 37

Variants

There were three major variants of the S160 class, excluding inlife design development:

• S161 - designed for deployment in Jamaica
• S162 - designed for Russian broad gauge track
• S166 - designed for Russian broad gauge track

Technicalities

Specification - USATC S160 Class

Cylinders:	Two	19x26in.
Motion:		Walschaerts
Valves:		10" piston
Boiler:	Max. Diameter:	5ft 10in
	Pressure:	225psi
Heating Surface:	Total:	2253 sq.ft.
	Firebox:	136 sq.ft.
	Tubes:	1055 sq.ft. (150x 2in)
	Flues:	567 sq.ft. (30x 5.375in)
	Superheater:	480 sq.ft.
Grate Area:		41 sq.ft.
Wheels:	Leading:	2ft 9in
	Coupled:	4ft 9in
Tractive Effort:	@ 85% boiler pressure	31,490lb
Total Wheelbase:		51ft 7.75in
Engine Weight:	fully loaded	124 tons 12cwt
Max. Axle Load:		15 tons 15cwt

Gallery

• Preserved in Great Britain is No. 5197 at the Churnet Valley Railway
  Preserved in Great Britain is No. 5197 at the Churnet Valley Railway
• 
  No. 5820 at the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway
• Preserved TCCD locomotive no 45172
  Preserved TCCD locomotive no 45172
• Preserved Polish PKP Class Tr201
  Preserved Polish PKP Class Tr201
• 
  No. 101 on display at the United States National Railroad Museum. Built for use in France, it never made it there during WWII, so the original European style cab was replaced by an American style]]

External links

• http://hobby.ien.com.pl/kolej/Freight%20Steam%20Locomotives/Tr201.htm
• USATC S160 2-8-0s at LNER.info
• http://www.gregoriou.itgo.com/custom4.html
• http://www.trainsofturkey.com/w/pmwiki.php/Steam/45171